The Government has defended its support for academy schools after it was revealed that a number of charities than run them are paying senior staff six-figure salaries.

It was reported last night that the director general of the
E-Act chain of academy schools, Sir Bruce Liddington, earned
£280,017 last year in salary, pension contributions and
bonuses.

A director at the Harris Federation, which runs 13 academies,
earned £243,027 – a rise of £26,411 on the year before – according
to the report.

Academy schools receive tens of millions of pounds from the
government each year.

A spokesman for the Department of Education last night defended
the schools, which were initiated by the previous Labour
government, adding that it wanted "more good chains to evolve".
Academy chains take a slice of the funding of each of their
academies, for their central office costs.

The percentage they take is much less than Local Authorities
take for similar functions and yet they still provide a high
quality service.

Meanwhile, the education blog SchoolDuggery yesterday revealed
that the proportion of pupils that attend free schools and are
eligible for free school meals is half the national average.

The writer and free schools champion, Toby Young, said that the
discrepancywas because "[free] schools are perceived to be above
average and middle-class parents are generally more energetic about
trying to secure the best possible opportunities for their children
than parents on low incomes".